The present invention relates to brewing cartridges and in particular to a brewing cartridge which may be disassembled and parts thereof recycled and/or reused.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,325,765 and 5,840,189 disclose features of a brewing cartridge sold under the trademark K-CUP, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,606,938, 6,708,600, and 7,165,488 disclose features of coffee makers sold under the trademark KEURIG. While the KEURIG coffee makers and K-CUP cartridges have met with tremendous success, some consumers desire a lower cost cartridge which can be used in the same manner as the K-CUP cartridge in the KEURIG coffee maker. In particular, there is a need for a cartridge which allows easy removal of a cartridge lid or cover to re-use and/or recycle portion of the cartridge. The '765, '189, '938, 600, and '488 patents are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Unfortunately, The KEURIG coffee maker described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,165,488 and the K_CUP cartridge described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,765 present unique problems for a reusable adapter. FIG. 6 of the '488 patent shows an inlet probe 28 which punctures the top of the K-CUP cartridge and injects heated water into the cartridge. FIG. 7 of the '488 patent shows an offset outlet probe 30 which punctures the base of the K-CUP cartridge and enters an empty portion of the cartridge interior to receive and carry the brewed drink for disbursing to a cup. The function of the KEURIG coffee maker presents a particular problem to designing an adapter because of the presence of the outlet probe to puncture the cartridge and carry the brewed drink from the cartridge. To retain the intended function of the KEURIG coffee maker, a reusable adapter would have to align with and seal around the offset outlet probe. Such a design would require both close tolerances and sealing features. Any miss-alignment could result in damage to the expensive KEURIG coffee maker, and a failure to seal would appear to create a mess for the consumer.
Further discouraging any new adapter design, Keurig offers an adapter sold under the trademark MY K-CUP. The MY K-CUP adapter does not replace a K-CUP cartridge, but instead requires the removal of a K-CUP Pack Holder before insertion of the MY K-CUP into the coffee maker. The outlet probe is part of the K-CUP Pack Holder and is removed with the K-CUP Pack Holder. The MY K-CUP adapter and the procedure for installing the MY K-CUP adapter into the KEURIG coffee maker, is a significant discouragement to attempting to develop a drop in adapter as a direct replacement for the K-CUP cartridge because it shows that Keurig did not believe that a drop in adapter was a viable product, probably because of the role of the outlet probe in the coffee maker design.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/777,831 filed Jul. 13, 2007 for “Pod Adapter System for Single Service Beverage Brewers” by the present applicant overcame the difficulties presented by the K-CUP cartridge and KEURIG coffee maker by inventing an adapter which fits into the K-CUP envelope but alters the fundamental operation of the KEURIG coffee maker. Through investigation of the KEURIG coffee maker and experimentation, the Applicant discovered the unexpected result, that if the brewed drink is released into the area of the KEURIG coffee maker under the K-CUP, the brewed drink would consistently flow into a cup positioned for normal use of the KEURIG coffee maker.
The '831 application discloses packaging the coffee in closed filter paper commonly called a pod, and inserting the closed pod into a holder base and attaching a lid (or cover) to the base to complete a cartridge. The holder base includes structure to avoid the offset outlet probe and an opening allowing brewed drink to escape from the cartridge. Following preparing a brewed beverage, the cover may be removed from the base and the pod removed from the base, allowing the pod to be recycled and the base and/or cover to be independently reused and/or recycled. The adapter of the '831 patent application thus provides a useful alternative to the K-CUP cartridge. The '831 patent application is incorporated by reference above.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/610,181 filed 30 Oct. 2009 for “Coffee maker” filed by the present applicant discloses an adapter receiving filter paper formed into a cup and having a rim captured between the adapter base and cover, but not attached by adhesive or other means to the adapter base. Such capturing of the rim both holds the filter paper, and brewing material held in the filter paper, against the cover facilitating compete brewing, and also allowed easier extraction of the filter paper and brewing material for recycling, and recycling and/or reuse of the adapter base and/or cover. The '181 further discloses a horizontal disposition of the cartridge in the coffee maker, but does not disclose all embodiments of such horizontally disposed cartridge. The '181 patent application is incorporated by reference above.